‘Dear son in heaven’: Message in a bottle pulled from Lake Huron holds photo, cash and Flamborough family’s heartbreak

As Tom Walli and his family watched their message in a bottle bob out of view on the waves of Lake Huron nearly four years ago, he doubted they'd ever see it again.

And Walli admits he nearly forgot all about" the bottle - launched from their cottage on Manitoulin Island in memory of his son Brandon - until earlier this month when he got a message from a stranger on Facebook.

The bottle had been found and it was all in one piece.

It was a surprise," said Walli. We watched it float all the way out ... and it came back to the right people."

A few weeks back, Shandelle Carrigan and Jason Poulton, of Courtice, were visiting a family member's property on Barrie Island, which is a part of Manitoulin Island.

While everyone was puttering" around the cottage, Carrigan decided she'd take a walk down to the water. As she was strolling along the shoreline, she spotted something.

It was a bottle, but it had a lid on it," she said. And it just kind of glimmered and caught my eye."

Before she even grabbed it, Carrigan could tell something was inside the pint-sized bottle, which was sealed at the neck with black electrical tape.

As soon as I flipped it over, I could see the words Dear son in heaven,' and I could see the picture of who would become Brandon," she added.

Carrigan ran back up to the cottage, shouting excitedly that she'd found a message in a bottle." She asked Poulton to pull out his phone and start recording as she opened the bottle and read the note inside.

It could have been nothing, but it ended up being something kind of big," said Carrigan, who needed some assistance from a hacksaw to get the bottle open.

Inside the container was a piece of paper that had included a poem, a photo of Brandon Walli and his story, as well as a $10 bill - enough to cover a drink in his memory.

Brandon was struck and killed by a pickup truck near his home in Flamborough while crossing Highway 6 near Carlisle Road around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2016. He was 23.

But, at that time, Carrigan and Poulton had no idea where the bottle had come from.

Poulton did a quick search online and tracked down Brandon's obituary as well as his story. Carrigan also put together a Facebook post with the story in hopes of tracking down the family via social media. It was shared hundreds of times and, in less than 24 hours, they were in contact with the Walli family.

It just kind of snowballed from there," she said. It blew my mind how fast we got in contact."

It turned out the families were now neighbours - unbeknownst to one another. The bottle hadn't floated too far away, but nonetheless, it brought them together.

They set up an emotional" video call and had a drink in honour of Brandon, which brought Walli right back" to the day in mid-May 2017 when they watched the bottle disappear into the horizon.

Not only did a flood of memories come rushing back, but Walli said the bottle's discovery has acted as a springboard" to share a powerful message.

Walli said based on evidence" and information that family have been able to gather, it's believed Brandon was looking at his phone - distracted by a text conversation - when he stepped into the roadway that night.

My son always had his face buried in his phone," said Walli. I'm very confident that's what his activity was when he was struck and killed."

In the fallout of Brandon's death, Walli and his family have been working to raise awareness surrounding the dangers of distracted driving and walking. With the help of Walli's employer, Geotab Inc., they launched the Phones Down, Eyes Up campaign.

Texting and walking is bad and there is a cost to it. Nobody should ever have to do what we had to do," he said. It brings it back to reality and (the message) is being shared again."

Walli said the pain of Brandon's death has never gone away. He still lives right down the road from where the crash happened.

Any time I hear a fire truck, I'm reminded of it," he said.

And for Poulton and Carrigan, the message hits even closer to home as they have four boys. The family plans on doing everything" they can to get the word out for Walli.

That includes meeting Walli later this year to put a new bottle back out, in hopes of it landing in the hands of another person and spreading the message even further.

We can only imagine what would happen if we were in their shoes," said Poulton. If it can prevent even just one person from having their head in their phone, it's worth sharing the message and spending the time getting it out to people."

Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com